NASA watching Typhoon Noru head west in Northwestern Pacific

NASA's Aqua satellite provided a near-infrared look at Typhoon Noru as it continued its western track at sea, far to the southeast of Japan.

Near-infrared satellite imagery from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite taken on July 26 at 0211 UTC (July 25 at 10:11 p.m. EDT) showed provided a look at the temperatures of Noru's clouds. That data was false colored and made into an image at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California to highlight cloud top temperatures.

In infrared imagery, the coldest cloud tops indicate towering thunderstorms high into the troposphere. The colder the clouds, the stronger the storms. AIRS data showed a thick band of cloud tops around the center of circulation were as cold as or colder than minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 53 degrees Celsius. Cloud top temperatures that cold have been shown to generate heavy rainfall.

On July 26 at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) Typhoon Noru had maximum sustained winds near 80 knots (92 mph/148 kph). Noru was moving to the northwest at 14 knots (16 mph/26 kph). It was centered near 30.1 degrees north latitude and 154.8 degrees east longitude, about 347 nautical miles north-northeast of the Minami Tori Shima Atoll.

Noru is forecast to turn more toward the west and continue tracking in that general direction for the next couple of days, then turn toward the southwest. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast calls for the storm to approach Iwo To Island, Japan around July 31.